FEATURE STORY Top deck builders share what clients want in outdoor living

WHAT CLIENTS WANT IN OUTDOOR LIVING

TOP DECK BUILDERS PINPOINT BIGGEST TRENDS IN THE BACKYARD

DECKORATORS recently hosted a panel of top deck builders discussing the most important trends in outdoor living. “Imagine Outside: 2023 Outdoor Living Professional Insights” brought together four leading contractors—Blake Carter, California Deck Pros, San Marcos, Ca.; Sean Collinsgru and Catherine Lippincott, Premier Outdoor Living, Palmyra, N.J.; and Jason Varney, Dock & Deck, Lenoir City, Tn. The panelists identified homeowner demands that not only influence which products will sell, but also what new products are coming down the pike.

Calm & Collected

Sean Collinsgru: What we’re seeing with our clients is a sense that they want to relax and find a bit of peace from the day. I think that’s a little bit of a carryover from everything that’s gone on over the last couple of years. We used to see a lot of people’s wish lists were all surrounding entertainment, throwing parties. Now we’re seeing more and more the requests are coming from a place of “we just want to have a space that’s peaceful and calming.” That’s leading to a lot of the trends that are more natural, more earthtones. I don’t want to say people are going away from a more modern aesthetic, but they want more texture, they want more of those calming tones and accessories that accentuate that.

Blake Carter: We’re using a lot of natural tone. People are focusing more on keeping it simpler, because using more of those natural tones will give us a timeless look. I think people are looking more long-term for this, because they’re throwing so much money into their outside space they want a color that in 10 years is not going to look dated. Doing a neutral tone you can get color by a lot of different textures and materials, and also pop the color from your furniture and accents, rather than the floor itself.

Bigger the Better

Jason Varney: What we’re seeing the most that is different from the past is the scale of the projects. There’s no holding back on what people are willing to do. Maybe it’s due to the amount of projects that have been introduced into the field and them not just getting enough with just one product. The scale of the projects in my business has doubled in cost, in material, and in the footprints. The outdoor living space doesn’t extend to a 10-ft. area for a barbecue any more. It’s pushed all the way to the edge of the property and, in my case, to the water.

Inside Out

Carter: People don’t want to go back inside their house. So we’re putting everything they have inside outside. That means they’ll have a barbecue, but they’re also going to have a sink so they can go wash their hands. We’re putting everything out on the deck you need inside. Were also putting heaters and fireplaces and

firepits, anything that you can to not only to prolong the time from day to night, but also seasons to keep people out there all year long.

Collinsgru: People want features outside. I always look at it like outdoor rooms, so when I go into a design consultation it’s not like “Tell me what you want,” it’s “Tell me how you want to use it? What kind of areas do you want? Do you want an outdoor living room? Do you want an outdoor kitchen?” By looking at it like that we can focus on the features that need to go in. The features are a means to the space. If you want an outdoor kitchen, that is going to lead to counter space, a grill, a fridge, trash. It starts with the intention behind the space, which for us starts at the design process and leads to everything we do. More and more people want everything that’s inside the house outside. So heaters, a built-in cooler in a bar top, kitchens, all kinds of stuff. As soon as people see that inspiration on Pinterest or Instagram, they immediately want all these features, and it’s our job to figure out how we can realistically do that and incorporate it into their project.

Varney: With the scope and the size of the projects that we’re doing now, people are making such a huge investment it’s like if you were to build a new home these days, you wouldn’t build just a bedroom and a kitchen, you’re going to have all the extras because the cost is so grand because of the scale that they want. There are no limitations. Their designs are over the top and they literally don’t back down at all on what they want. Now it’s more of can we get the product and can we get it done in the timeframe so they can use these huge areas, that’s the biggest push.

The Full Picture

Catherine Lippincott: Our entire business is based around the whole backyard build, because it really sets off a project. Just adding simple things like landscaping and lighting can make a $30,000 deck look like a $75,000 deck. Most people, if they’re spending all this money, want it to look the best that it can, so having something to set off other features like lighting or landscaping really draws the eye to how beautiful a project can be.

Collinsgru: Our biggest objective has always been making sure the project looks like it’s supposed to be there. A lot of times you’ll see a deck that’s built off the back of the house and it might be well integrated with the architecture of the house, but not into the landscape. It’s should be a bridge between the house and the landscape. By incorporating things like planter beds around the deck you can not only soften that hard look of this big structure out there, but it helps to integrate it. When we’re done, we want it to look like it was always meant to be there. A finished look. That this is the spot for the deck, it makes sense that it’s there, and it seamlessly transitions from house to landscape.

Lippincott: Also, things like patios add more usable space. So if one space lends itself to the next and if you’re thinking about it more cohesively, you just get more space out of it.

Carter: A lot of the jobs we’re doing are big, elaborate projects that take up basically all the backyard. But we don’t want one thing to take up the whole yard. We put in some greenery to soften the hardness of the hardscape. We want the patios and the decks to be proportionate with the yard. We also want to utilize other textures so that it looks like we have a cohesive design, and it doesn’t look like something that we didn’t plan, like we just plopped it in the backyard. And we want to actually make it usable. You can build a whole project, but if it doesn’t function, it’s a waste of space.

Also in terms of are we going to be out here when it’s 110 degrees? Well, probably not unless we install some shade. So we combine everything from the deck to the patio, the pool, an area to play some games, an adult area, an area for the kids, we’re thinking about all of those things when we’re designing.

Varney: Our projects start at the back door and extend all the way to the waterfront. They used to say, “It’s got great curb appeal.” Well, a lot of these projects people don’t see from the curb. We try to make the dock or deck their front door now, and if you look at a lot of images these days out on social media, what you see is the backyard. You don’t see the curb appeal per se, what everybody saw 10, 15, 20 years ago. Now it’s shot from a drone showing their entire backyard. The homeowner used to open the front door and want to show people how pretty their foyer was. Now they’re trying to shove you as fast through their house as they can to get back to this ultimate outdoor living space in the back. BP

NATURAL NEUTRALS—including Deckorators Voyage composite decking in Sedona, ALX cable railing, muted hardscape, and western red cedar privacy wall—help create a tranquil, integrated space. (Photo by California Deck Pros)